What Does 2 Chronicles 14:8 Mean?
And Asa had an army of men who bore body-shields and spears, three hundred thousand from Judah, and from Benjamin, who bore shields and drew the bow, two hundred and fourscore thousand. All these were mighty men of strength.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valour.THE KEY
One Hebrew word names both Asa’s army and his fighters’ “valour,” joining collective force to the capacity of the people who embody it.
THE MEANING
You encounter strength here as a gathered capacity: Judah’s target-and-spear bearers and Benjamin’s shield-and-bow bearers make one force with different equipment. One Hebrew word names the force as an “army” and the fighters’ quality as “valour,” joining the scale of a people to the capacity of its members.
THE ROOT
חַיִל
chayil
GROWS FROM
חיל
Strength, force, capacity; the noun can denote an army or resources.
The same word appears twice in the verse: first for Asa’s army, then for the fighters’ “valour.” English gives it two labels, while Hebrew holds the collective force and the people’s capacity within one word.
ALSO GROWS
chayil: Army, force, or host.
חַיִל
This is the word translated “army” at the beginning of the verse and “valour” at its end.
chayil: Wealth, resources, or usable means.
חַיִל
This sense shows the word’s broader reach: capacity can be a people’s military force or the resources they can bring to bear.
גִּבּוֹרִים
gibborim
GROWS FROM
גבר
To grow strong, be mighty, or prevail.
The word translated “mighty” comes from a verb of prevailing or proving strong: it names strength in action. Paired with the shared force-word in this verse, it links the people’s organized capacity with those who can carry it into action.
ALSO GROWS
gavar: To be strong or prevail.
גָּבַר
This verb gives “mighty” its sense of strength exerted in action.
gevurah: Might, strength, or a deed of power.
גְּבוּרָה
This noun names the strength embodied by the fighters called mighty.
gibbor: A mighty person or warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This singular form shows that the verse’s collective force is made up of people marked by strength.
THE PATTERN
Shared strength takes shape when distinct capacities are gathered and placed in relation to one another.
Moreover, you shall look out from all the people for men of strength, who stand in awe of God, men of truth, who hate plunder; and set such over them as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.And I stood the people in the lower places beneath the wall, and on the higher places, by their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.For the body is not one limb, but many.THE THREAD
Moreover, you shall look out from all the people for men of strength, who stand in awe of God, men of truth, who hate plunder; and set such over them as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.The phrase translated “able men” uses the same Hebrew word that this verse renders “army” and “valour.” That shared word connects a people’s collective force with the capacity entrusted to particular people.
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